Big prints from a small printer
Tools that make a ready-to-print PDF on your own device — sized, checked and numbered, so nothing is wasted and it goes up straight.
Each opens ready for the job
- Rasterbator PosterRedraw any photo as a grid of dots, sized by how dark each part is — the look the Rasterbator made famous — and print it across as many sheets as your wall can take.
- Giant Photo PosterBlow up a favourite photo to a metre or more using ordinary paper and a home printer.
- Printable bingo cardsUnique cards as a PDF, from your own words or a theme.
How the poster maker works
A big print from an ordinary printer
A home printer only prints A4 or US Letter, but a poster can be any size if it is printed in pieces. The Poster Maker cuts your picture into a grid of sheets, adds a strip of overlap and crop marks to each, and labels every sheet with its row letter and column number. The first page of the PDF is a map of the whole layout, so the sheets go back together in the right order.
Will it look sharp?
How big a picture can print depends on its pixels, not on the poster size you choose. A 12 megapixel phone photo is about 4,000 pixels wide, enough for a sharp print about 34 cm wide at 300 dots per inch, and much larger for a poster seen from across a room. A photo saved from a chat app is often only 1,600 pixels wide. The tool tells you how sharp your chosen size will be before you download, and the guides below explain the numbers.
Photo or halftone dots
You can print the picture as it is, or as a halftone: large dots whose size carries the shading, the look of a rasterbated poster. Dots hide low resolution well, which makes halftone the better choice for a small source image printed very large. Everything is made in your browser; the picture is never uploaded.
Before you open one
What paper and printer do I need?
Any home printer with A4 or US Letter paper. Print the PDF at 100% or Actual size, never Fit to page, so the joins between sheets line up.
How big can my poster be?
As big as you like in sheets, but how sharp it looks depends on the picture's pixels. The Poster Maker tells you how sharp your chosen size will be before you download.
Should I choose photo or halftone dots?
Halftone dots hide low resolution well, so they suit a small picture printed very large. A sharp, high-resolution photo can print as it is.
Is my picture uploaded?
No. The sheets and the PDF are made in your browser, and the picture never leaves your device.
Guides for these tools
How big can I print my photo? Pixels, PPI and viewing distance
The largest print a photo can make from its pixel width, why a poster needs far fewer pixels per inch than a small print, and why WhatsApp photos print small.
6 min readHow to print a large poster on A4 paper at home, step by step
Tile any picture across A4 or Letter sheets, print it at the right scale, and join the pages so the seams hardly show. Printer settings, paper, glue, trimming.
7 min readWhat is a rasterbated poster? How halftone dot wall art works
A rasterbated poster rebuilds a photo from dots that grow where it is dark. Why it works from small photos, which dot size to pick, and how to print one.
6 min read
Looking for something else?
Device tests, timers and a voice recorder — all free, all in the browser.